Dear friends,

Do you hoard opportunities that come to you?

Do you feel the need to share it with others to benefit or do you think sharing with others will limit your chances of having access to the opportunity?

It could be a job, a scholarship, a contract etc.

I apologise for my confronting questions but come with me as I explain the gains of sharing opportunities with others.

In 2017 while undertaking my master’s studies in the UK, the Commonwealth Scholarship organised a workshop tagged “Connect and Communicate”. The competitive workshop was aimed at providing scholars with the skills to communicate their research. The workshop was hosted at the historic Cumberland Lodge.

On arrival, I was paired in the same room with a Nigerian- Danladi Yunana. I had never met him or known about him until that day. We connected very quickly and spoke about home and life in general. After the workshop, we all left for our various schools but we kept in touch and spoke often about the plans that we had for the future.

Towards the end of our studies, I began searching for PhD scholarships and I came across the prestigious UNSW Scientia PhD scholarship in Australia. After preparing my essays and expressing interest, I thought of sharing it with Danladi. He also worked on his essays, sent them back to me for review, and applied for the scholarship.

Please stay with me, it is about to get juicy here. Do not stop reading.

Guess what happened? Exactly! it is what you are thinking. On 17th November 2017 at exactly 5:41 pm UK time, Danladi broke the news to me via Facebook messenger (chats attached). He got the scholarship but I did not. I was so happy for him. He returned to Nigeria and after a few months, travelled to Australia to commence his doctoral journey.

After my studies, I returned to Nigeria and continued working as a development worker. My relentless applications landed me a PhD scholarship in Australia at the prestigious QUT (Queensland University of Technology). I called Danladi and broke the news to him and he was so excited I was coming to join him in Australia.

My juicy scholarship at QUT excluded my visa application and flight fares so I spoke to Danladi and without a 2nd thought, Danladi sent me money to support my transition to Australia. He did not stop there, immediately I touched down in Australia, Danladi sent me money to allow me to settle in before my stipend was paid.

I am hoping by now that you followed my story and would have deciphered my message but let me break it down for you. If I did not share the PhD scholarship opportunity with Danladi, he would not have known about it and even applied. However, my gesture of sharing the PhD opportunity with him in 2017 came back as a favour for me in 2019 when Danladi financially supported my transition to Australia. We have remained very close and still share opportunities with each other. I am sure many will pay off too.

My message is simple:

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘺. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

Remember, “𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙣, 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣”

Share that opportunity with someone NOW!!!

Regards,

AAP

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